1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an image reading and readout system that reads the image of each frame of a long-type film, displays the image on a monitor screen, and provides a method of trimming the image.
2. Description of Related Art
The image reading system is composed of a film image reading device, or film scanner. The film scanner, under the control of a host computer, reads the image of a film negative or reverse film. The host computer collects image data and controls the display of the image on the monitor screen.
In recent years, new types of film have been proposed. One of these is a long type of film (referred to below as "roll film") which is left in a film cartridge even after development. The roll film is equipped with a magnetic storage region in each frame. In each magnetic storage region, a photographic item is recorded when photography is performed. Print sizes C, H, and P are included in the photographic item.
The C size is called the classic size, and has an aspect ratio of 3:2. The H size is called the high-vision size, and has an aspect ratio of 16:9. The P size is called the panorama size, and has an aspect ratio of 3:1.
In addition to reading the image of each frame, the film image reading device also reads the magnetic information of each magnetic storage region. The host computer executes trimming processing of image data received from each frame, according to the aspect ratio determined by the print size included in the magnetic information, and then displays the image on the monitor screen.
Accordingly, in a conventional image reading system that handles roll film, not all of the image information of the frame read by the film image reading device is displayed on the monitor screen. Only the trimmed frame image, which was automatically trimmed according to the aspect ratio determined by the print size included in the magnetic information, is displayed on the monitor screen.
Sometimes the user sees the frame image displayed on the monitor screen and wants to add changes to the print size set during photography. However, a conventional display method ignores part of the image information on the film, as explained above.
Accordingly, the user cannot freely select, on the monitor screen, all of the image information for the film. Instead, the user can only change the frame image displayed according to the aspect ratio determined by the print size set during photography. Therefore, it is difficult to obtain a frame image of a satisfactory size.
Further, in a conventional display method, the frame image is displayed on the monitor screen based on the aspect ratio determined by the print size. Because the print size is only set during photography, when the user changes the image size, the user must do so without knowing what the print size was originally set to. This also points out why it is difficult in a conventional display method to obtain a frame image of a satisfactory size.